Filing system



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A. H, J. T. WIE-LINK FILING SYSTEM Filed Feb. 4. 1920 2 sheets-Sham l um l ecedmg 6 E wwunm@ Patented Sept. l, i523.

UNET ST ALEXANDER H. 3. TJEENK WXLLINK, OFSIARTNEZ, CALIFORNIA.

FILING SYSTEM'.

Application :led February 4, 1920. Serial No. 356,253.

A To all whom it may-concern.'

Be it known that l, ALEXANDER H. J. TJEENK `WILL1NKJ citizen of Holland, residing at Martinez, in the county of Contra Costa, State of California, have invented a new and useful Filing System, of which the following is a speciication in such full and clear terms as will enable those skilled in the art to construct and use the same.

rlhis invention relates to a filing system and method of filing cards, an object of which is to provide means whereby a missing card or a misplaced card of the series may be immediately located.

lt will be understood by those familiar with alphabetical tiling systems that when a card is misplaced itis necessary to hunt through practically all of the cards of the system and examine the data upon the cards to nd the missing card` or toind the misplaced card, for sometimes the card is taken away and at other times it is simply mis-` placed.

With the present invention means is provided to ascertain first whether or not all of the cards or leaves in the filing system are in their proper initial' alphabetical order, and second, whether alll of the cards in their proper initial alphabetical order are in their proper alphabetical order with respect to their seco-nd index letter or with respect to any additional data that it may be desired to place upon the cards for indexing them with respect to their particular position in the filing system, and third, to ascertain exactly what card or leaf of the series is missing, thereby enabling one to locate the data that particular sheet should contain.

Other objects of the invention will appear as the description proceeds..

In the drawings in which the same reference numeral is applied to the same portion throughout the several views: v

Figure 1 is a front view of a card numbered 1555 showing the manner of indexing it. i

Figure 2 is a front elevation of four cards as they would appear when the card system is being examined to locate the missing card.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of a card file showing the appearance of the `top of the tile after a series 'of cards properly indexed have been placed therein.

Figure 4 is a perspective view of several cards of the B class showing one misplaced card.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of several cards of the B class showing one card with the lsecond letter of the series misplaced.

It will be understood by those skilled in the'art that while the term card index 4is used herein that this system of filin is applicable to any sheets or cards where t ey are filed alphabetically and carry any desired data, and is especially intended to provide an adequateindexing for a filing systemi that is being continually increased in the number of cards it contains from time to time.

The numeral 1 indicates the card which has: the letters` of the alphabet arranged along its upper side as indicated at 2. J ust under the letters of the alphabet in the series indicated at 2 is a similar series of letters of the alphabet as indicated at 3, while at the beginning of the second line is space yfor the card number, in the present instance Arranged along the left hand border of the card are numbers from 1 to 10 inclusive, as indicated at 4. At the top of the right hand corner of the card is the word 'Preceding while at the bottom of the right hand corner is the word Following. The card number 1555 is then repeated in the middle of the right hand edge of the card as indicated. at 5, and just under `the-word preceding as indicated at 6 is the number of the card next preceding the card 1555, while at the lower corner of the card over the Wordafollowing is the number of the following card as indicated at 7. `When the card is originally indexed a notch is cut out of it as indicated at 8, in the present instance the letter B, and the second letter of the name is punched out of the card in the lower series of letters 3.

Each card of the series is notched on the top corresponding with the letter of the space into which it is to go, for example, those cards of the box A have the A cut out; the same system being followed throughout the entire alphabetic series.

At the same time the card may be given a number as in the present instance 1555, and this number is repeated at the right hand end ofthe card, and when the 'card is placed in the lre in its proper position the card preceding is examined and its number 4501, for example, is placed under the word Pref ceding, and the number 1675, for example, of the card following is placed at the lower right hand corner of the card over the word Following. A Both the preceding card and following card then have their numbers adljusted accordingly and the system is complete lfor further inspection.

It will be apparent that if any card is mis- -B is seen in the notch of the front card andwhere its notch is seen just in back ofthe letter D. It will also be apparent that 'if a card of the series B- is merely misplaced in its own box, for example, if the next letter is A that it will be found with a hole to the left of holes in 'cards in front of it, and it 'will be apparent that the proper order is for the holes in theseries of letters 3 t0 proceed from left to right as the cards are examined from front to back so that byrunning` over the cards the location of the holes will at once determine whether those cards are in their proper position. If there are a plurality of cards containing first letters Ba, then the series of numbers 4 along the left hand edgevof the card may be punched out and the properposition of those cards inthe series Ba will be determined similarly for the hole in the tenth card should be found below the holes in the front cards.

T he foregoing designations enables one to at once locate any card that is misplaced in the file, but assuming a card to be missing We can at onee`discover the missing card by picking up a bundle of cards and slipping them past one another until they stand in the position of the four cards shown in Figure 2, in which event if the card file is complete there will be a complete series of numbers extending diagonally across the ends of the cards; for example, in Figure 2 there are two complete Vseries of numbers 450 and 555, while there is an incomplete series of numbers 64-300--675 and 82, thus showin 'that the card 64 and the card 82 are bot missing fromA the file.. It will be apparent that following'V this system any additional data may be similarly indexed should that be desired,

WhatI claim is as follows, but various ing a hole arranged therein in a non-alignedv .successive order to indicate the sub-position of the sheets in the file. 2. A filing system comprising a plurality yof sheets,`- each sheet bearing an individual number' and the number of the sheet and following sheet.

3. A filing system comprising a plurality of sheets, each bearing an individual number and carrying the number of the preceding sheet above the individual number 'and the number of the following sheet below the individual number.

4. A filing system comprising a plurality of sheets bearing a primary alphabet and a secondary alphabet, both alphabets arranged with their letters in succession, a notch in each sheet to indicate `the position of the sheets in the file with respect to the primary alphabet, a hole in each sheet to indicate the sub-position of each sheet in a given series, and information upon each sheet to determine the loss of a sheet from the file.

5. A filing system comprising a plurality of sheets each ,provided lwith several serially arranged series of characters, each sheet having notches along one edge to indicate the position of the sheets in a filing system with respect to one of the series of preceding characters, said sheets also having holes through certain of the other characters on set my hand this 28th day of January A. D.

ALEXANDER H; J. TJEENK WILLINK.

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